It would be a terrible mistake to consider the testimony of this woman simply as such, the testimony of a woman, even though in current times nothing will be better guarantee of literary success. Teresa doesn’t need to be a woman to reach incredible fame in the public arena, for her… only God is enough. The great Carmelite Doctor and stubborn reformer of the custom of her Order cannot be trap in a net of ideological terminology and for that reason St Teresa never will be the patrimony of anyone. She is God’s alone. Read more

The accusations levelled at the pharisees by Jesus can just as easily be asked of us: are we sincere and faithful in following God’s commandments? Is our religious practice one which buffs up the outside of the cup, leaving the inside tainted and impure? Asking these questions of ourselves can ensure that we don’t make the same mistakes as the pharisees, but can also tell us something about how we are to speak the truth to others.
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Today's Gospel presents us with an abbreviated form of the series of petitions that we call the Our Father. The longer, more familiar form, is found in the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew's Gospel (6:5-13). Matthew’s Our Father has seven petitions whereas Luke's has five. When faced with two non-identical texts, we are bound to ask why the difference?Read more